


Heroine's Portrait

by exovelvetwriters



Category: EXO (Band), Red Velvet (K-pop Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, EXOVelvet, F/M, Horror, Mystery, Psychological Trauma, Thriller
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-07
Updated: 2021-01-07
Packaged: 2021-03-18 01:08:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28609572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/exovelvetwriters/pseuds/exovelvetwriters
Summary: Having a slump in your career makes you question about your capabilities. Seulgi, a known novel writer asks for help from her so-called “biggest fan” after seeing his artworks to be an inspiration on her story.Genre: Horror/Mystery/Thriller, Prompt: Painting
Relationships: Kim Minseok | Xiumin & Kang Seulgi, Kim Minseok | Xiumin/Kang Seulgi
Kudos: 10
Collections: EXOVelvetWritersFest 2.0





	Heroine's Portrait

_Content Warning: Co ntains smut, blood, violence, infliction of bodily harm, psychological._

* * *

_Asking for help is nice, but be careful who you should ask for. You’ll never know what’s coming for you._

\---

 **_Heroine_ ** _, the central female figure of the story._

The night breeze got colder as it passed through the window, made herself irritated. Seulgi hated the wind since she never liked being cold. She then closed the window beside her desk, as she went back to her seat. She just came back from taking a break from staring at her laptop for hours.

_‘Ugh... What is wrong with me? Why can’t I write something? What is missing?’_

A lot of questions ran through her mind. Out of frustration, she banged her head into the desk and made her regret doing that. _‘Ouch!’_ She thought that her conscience might be laughing at her in a corner for what she did. Seulgi’s been working on her next novel, after having her first success in her writing career by luck, with her recent novel about a woman who solves a case about serial killing. After all, she’s still a rookie in the publishing industry.

Back then, Seulgi was known for being a frustrated aspiring writer who wanted her work to be recognized by everyone, of course, there’s passion in every word she wrote, yet it isn’t enough, since she lacked in many ways, especially the way she wrote her stories. Luckily, there’s a time when she had a drink by herself in a bar, a year ago, probably wanted to give up being a writer. If it wasn’t for a stranger who approached her out of the blue that time, and casually talked and advised her, about improving her writing, probably she wouldn’t have the inspiration for her recent novel.

And that’s why she’s pushing herself harder not to go back to the way she was in the past.

After all the fuss, Seulgi’s been stressed out and put her hands on her face, scratched her eyes, out of habit. Now her eyes started to hurt as a result.

“Not now, Seulgi. Not now.”

She told herself as she looked for something on her desk. Seulgi saw the coffee mug and reached for it. She tried to sip it, hoping there’ll be leftover coffee, only to realize she had been drinking it until the last drop.

\--

“Joy! Get me some coffee please.”

Seulgi asked for Joy, her assistant, to get her usual coffee but no response can be heard coming from her. She had no choice but to leave her office, her laptop the way it was, and started to look for her assistant, bringing her phone with her. She looked through Joy’s office; next to the pantry but she couldn't find her, good thing she brought her phone so she called Joy.

‘Hello? Joy Park’s speaking, who’s this?’

Her assistant finally answered her phone after her third try dialing her. The sound from the other line was too noisy for her, judging from what she heard. Seulgi thought her assistant may be at a restaurant or attending some event. Their conversation went from asking her assistant where she went, up to inviting her to some dinner with her assistant’s acquaintance. Knowing her assistant was newly hired months ago, she finds Joy being very friendly to her in any way that sometimes she finds it being nosy. 

Seulgi had to agree to join Joy with her company for dinner, on one condition, her assistant mustn’t be nosy around her.

“Fine. Just send me the location and I’ll be there at 8.”

\--

She rolled her eyes as she hung up on the call. She then left at her workshop with her car. Since it was windy at that time, Seulgi left a few minutes late. It was 8:30 in the evening when she finally arrived at the fancy restaurant that Joy had sent an address to her. 

After getting out of the car, the wind passed by her direction which made her irritated again. She hated being cold. She rushed to the valet personnel, gave her car keys, and entered the restaurant. Her assistant can be seen from afar and waved at her after noticing her and called out her name loudly at the same time inside the restaurant. Seulgi then covers her face to prevent being recognized by others as she approached her assistant’s table.

“Joy, I told you to mind your manners!”

Seulgi paused at the moment, upon seeing a man beside Joy. Her brows met in confusion, her assistant then smiled awkwardly and introduced her to the man standing beside her. She may be forgetful but she had a gut feeling that he had met this man before.

“Mr. Kim, this is Ms. Seulgi Kang. The wonderful boss that I’m talking about; and Ms. Seulgi, this is Mr. Minseok Kim. My acquaintance.”

\---

 **_Meeting,_ ** _an assembly for a common purpose._

Minutes had passed after the introductory, the three started to eat after the waiter served the food on their table, Joy excused herself and went to the powder room, leaving the two. The atmosphere was left only with silence and Seulgi leaned her head towards the bowl in front of her. She has been playing with her spoon as she waited for Joy. She could see him in her peripheral view, which has been staring at her all along.

Minseok cleared his throat in which he gained attention from her. She almost jumped in her seat from surprise.

“Are you usually that quiet, Ms. Seulgi?”

He widely smiled when her head tilted upwards to look at him, then, she started to compose herself and finally started talking to him. She rather wanted to know what his intentions are than keeping it to herself. 

“Excuse me Mr. Minseok? I know that it may seem rude for you since we’ve just met, but”

“Are you asking me if we knew each other? Or have we met before?” 

He cut her off by asking the typical questions that she wanted to ask him. She thought that maybe this man has a sharp personality that he had read her mind or rather she was just being obvious putting a curious look all over her face that anyone can guess. Seulgi just nodded at him.

The next thing she knew was, Minseok leaned forward against that small round table in front of them, in which the distance between them was easy enough to tell. She made a face telling that she was surprised and from that, she earned a soft chuckle from him. Minseok then whispered, 

“Well, I assure you Ms. Seulgi that for sure we don’t know each other but not sure if we have met before. Does my presence pique your curiosity to know me more?”

Seulgi moved backward at the sudden gesture of Minseok, but there was no more space at her back since she was sitting in an aisle. His presence itself made her anxious as to why he’s acting like that.

“E-ex-excuse me, I think you’re too close to me.”

Minseok’s face was too close for her to feel his breath. She tried to look away against him just to adjust the distance between them when she finally heard Joy’s footsteps approaching them. He then retreats to his seat, smiling at her and mouthed at her.

“I know.”

Seulgi just wanted this dinner to finish, since she has a lot of work left to do back at her workshop. But joining her assistant and meeting Minseok tonight, she weirded out of her wits for the first time this year and she didn’t want to add this occurrence from her problems. Her assistant finally came back to her seat, and they continued to finish their dinner, and after that, she went back to her workshop.

\--

After having that dinner, she was relieved that she won’t be meeting that man again, and mostly, Joy wouldn’t be nosy at her anymore. Seulgi came back to her seat and started to type again on her laptop. Minutes after, she felt hot as the night breeze was gone and took off her sweater, but something fell on the ground from her right-side pocket. When she looked down, a lot of candy wrappers and a small piece of paper can be seen. She then grabs the paper and recognized it was a letter from Minseok.

\--

A week after that night, Seulgi went to an art museum, as she joined a line that was waiting outside. Even if she’s a rookie writer, still, a lot of people had recognized her. Now, they’re approaching her way to take pictures of her and had asked her about book two of _Heroine_ , her next novel, that she had been stressed out for a long time. Her fear of being recognized triggered her to escape through the crowd and ran as fast as she could. When she’s almost out of breath, she stopped herself from running, catch up with her breath as she calmed herself, and noticed that there were no people following her anymore. 

_‘Did I made the right thing coming here? I know I’m still lacking, but still. I wished Joy had nagged me for this.’_

_\--_

_“I know you’re struggling right now, I want to help you in the best way I can, so please come to my art exhibition next week. Hoping to see you there. Your biggest fan, Minseok Kim.”_

She remembered the letter that Minseok left her. Seulgi knew that being weirded out wasn’t enough, but telling her that he knows she’s struggling was something else. How much more did Joy tell him about her? Or is it really that he’s just a big fan of her? Well, accepting advise from a stranger before didn’t harm her, what more from her _biggest fan._

“You’re early Ms. Seulgi.” 

Minseok’s voice echoed throughout the place, they were at the parking lot. He greeted her with much pleasure and Seulgi took note of what he’s wearing right now. It was some plain white t-shirt underneath a black suit, compared to how he wore that tacky black leather jacket last week, he looked like a different person at all.

“I’m an early bird, Mr. Kim. I was never too late in my life.”

She said it with sarcasm on her face. After that, he escorted her to the back entrance, again, her brows met in confusion as she knew his art exhibition to be held at two in the afternoon, but looking at the time there’s still one hour before the event starts.

“So how was the character for your next work Ms. Seulgi? I heard from Joy that you’re having a hard time describing the antagonist, is that right?” He asked as he unlocked the belt barriers upon reaching his paintings.

She hesitated at first since she doesn’t know anything about him, but continued to answer him.

“I don’t know? I’m sorry, but I’m afraid that I’m not the Seulgi Kang you know of.”

Before he could answer her back, she showed her weakness not only to Minseok but also in front of the painting she was staring at. She wished that she could be like those paintings around her, looking refined, beautiful for people’s eyes. Minseok just stayed quiet and continued to tour her around.

\--

After an hour of touring, both of them bid farewell. When Seulgi reminded herself a year ago, she thought that receiving help again could boost her career as a writer. _‘I need him.’_ She then went back to the museum and searched for him. Even though a lot of people recognized her, she conquered her fear and continued searching. It was easy to find him in the crowd due to his unique looks.

“Ms. Seulgi, why did you come back?”

He greeted her again with confusion in his eyes. Minseok looked around as he knew that she hated the crowd. She then smiled at her and said, 

“Mr. Minseok, I accept your offer. I need you.”

\--

Three months passed after accepting his offer of help, Minseok agreed to her request as he’s her biggest fan. Seulgi now had an inspiration to write again, like she was before when she started book one of Heroine. Seeing as the scenarios she had to write to complete her novel are finally progressing. 

Their agreement was she had to visit Minseok’s place twice a week, which was such a big help from her. Her inspiration was to learn his profession, being a painter. As they got along together, not only his profession she learned but also his daily life. _‘Minseok is a nice guy.’_ , as Seulgi told herself about him. She liked that he lets her study his artworks deeply, allowing him to watch him paint, and also being supportive of her made Seulgi felt special.

From going twice, a week turned into almost every day. Seulgi never felt this happy and active in her life. Now, she does her work at his house as if she’s been living there with him. She never expected that Joy’s acquaintance or her biggest fan would be her lover.

\---

 **_Illusion_ ** _, a misleading image presented to the vision._

“Aren’t you going to sleep, my beautiful writer?”

Minseok asked her as he turned Seulgi’s chair towards him, making a pout with his lips, meanwhile, Seulgi’s eyes stayed focused on her laptop’s screen. She’s been writing all day because lots of ideas are coming to her mind and she didn’t like to miss it.

“Later my handsome painter. You go ahead to sleep and I’ll follow you after I finish this.”

Her lips formed a smile, still focused on the screen. He then let go of the chair and put it back to its position as he stood up making a puppy face. Her eyes looked for him a second and bid a good night to him. She thought Minseok had gone to the bed when she heard footsteps approaching from her back. It was him. He handed a glass of milk beside her desk and sat behind her. Seulgi smiled again since he always reminded her to drink milk instead of coffee when she’s working.

“This will take longer Min. I have to finish the first draft next week.”

“I know. Bu-” 

Seulgi felt ticklish when Minseok landed his hands on her waist, embracing her. 

“-you know that I want your attention right now.”

He then slowly placed his right hand onto her pussy, motioned a circling motion with his two fingers on her clitoris, while the other one cupped her breast and played with her nipple, in which he earned a moan from her. She was distracted from the tingling sensation from his touch. She then grabbed his hands and stopped him.

“Okay, okay. Let’s go to sleep now. But tomorrow, I don’t want distractions okay? Joy will nag me if I submit it late.”

He rolled his eyes and nodded. Then the two both went to the bedroom and left to sleep.

\--

Seulgi came back to her workshop to submit the first draft of her manuscript. She was greeted by the guard with a smile yet with a weird look, she then proceeded to Joy’s office.

“MS. SEULGI WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?”

Joy shouted in shock; her eyes were bigger than before. _‘There she goes again, being dramatic.’_

“Stop being dramatic, Joy. As if something bad happened to my face that you’re eyes almost popped out.”

Seulgi brought out the manuscript in her bag and handed it over to Joy. Her assistant still looked shocked and disgusted.

“Seriously, Ms. Seulgi, what happened to you? You looked…different. Please look at the mirror.”

Joy’s remark made her curious. She reminded herself when’s the last time she looked at the mirror. She realized that there’s no mirror around at Minseok’s place, and the thought of him with her was enough for her. Seulgi then went to her office after talking with Joy. Upon entering, she spotted her mirror placed on her desk and took a look at herself. _‘Still the same.’_ She just rolled her eyes like she used to and left at the workshop. 

\---

 **_Paint_ ** _, to touch up or cover over something like painting._

It’s the day of the year and Seulgi went back to the hospital to know the results of her annual check-up.

These past few weeks, her body’s been feeling weak, and hasn't her period back yet that Seulgi thought she might be pregnant. She took a pregnancy test along with her check-up. But instead of receiving good news, she's been told that they found an unusual drug from her blood, _Amitriptyline,_ a drug used to treat many mental illnesses. Her doctor explained the side effects of taking a dosage of that drug. She knew for herself that she's never been diagnosed with any kind of mental disease. 

Shocked by the news, she decided to go back to Minseok's place and tell him everything. When she arrived, Seulgi stood at Minseok's front door and contemplated whether she would just tell him or not. She hoped that her suspicions would turn out wrong. She decided to call him first, but the line tells her _‘_ _The number you have dialed is either unattended or out of coverage area. Please...’_ She had no choice but to barge in his place. 

Upon entering, she noticed that the house lights were off, except for that one room, the furthermost right side of the house. Seulgi tip-toed her way to that room to look at it, but when she passed by the kitchen, an awful smell reeked all over the place. Judging from the smell, it smelled like a dead rat to her. She felt cold as to why this smell was reeking because from the very start, she lived in this place, the smell of his house has always been a scent of coffee that always greeted her, but right now she felt like this isn't Minseok's house. 

"Why are you here? You're not supposed to be here."

\--

Shivers ran down through her spine when she heard that man's voice behind her. _'Minseok?'_ She tried to calm herself but her knees were now frozen at one place, cold sweat running throughout her body. She closed her eyes and turned towards where the voice is, but before she could move again, Seulgi felt an air near her left ear and the man whispered again, which made her lose consciousness.

Seulgi woke up in an unfamiliar room. She touched her head when it hurt due to her fall earlier. The last thing she remembered was she barged into Minseok’s house, heard a man’s voice, and faints.

From what she felt earlier, he imagined the man looked like the character she made from her novel, but it’s impossible since the inspiration for that was Minseok. Her eyes looked around the room and noticed, there were three portraits painted in red, hanging each side of the wall. _‘Like the description from Heroine.’_ Seulgi also noticed that the awful smell was gone. 

"You're awake already?"

Minseok entered the room along with him, is a glass of juice. He then offered it to her, a worried look was all over his face. She reminded herself what happened at the hospital and made an excuse that her throat was aching just to avoid drinking the juice. Instead, she asked him for water. She raised her suspicions at him and she had to be careful in her actions.

"Did you decorate our room? I have never seen these paintings before."

"We're in my other room. The electricity went off and this room only has a generator. By the way, these are my first paintings. Do you like it?" 

He seated beside her and put his arm around her.

"Ye- yeah, they're beautiful." 

Minseok smiled at her response, for some unknown reason, his reaction felt uncomfortable to her. After what happened to her earlier, she cannot stop thinking there’s a possibility that her suspicions may be true, even it’s ridiculous to think of it.

_\---_

**_Painter_ ** _, an artist who_ **_paints_ ** _pictures or portraits._

After he received a compliment from her, Minseok leaned closer to her, placed his arms around her. He only wanted Seulgi all his life. He reached for her lips but she avoided his lips. He went on and looked at her face and tried again, but Seulgi rose from the bed and stood up.

"I'm sorry Min. But I have to stay at my workshop for a while. I need to focus on that novel."

"Seulgi, all I want is your attention TO BE MINE! Is this about that darn Joy again? Is this how you pay for all my efforts to HELP YOU?!"

Minseok yelled at her out of his frustration. He then realized that Seulgi looked so scared at him and he didn't like that. 

"I'm sorry Seulgi. I'm very sorry."

He left the room as he apologized to her. Maybe a day not seeing her will do, he thought.

\--

After she argued with Minseok, Seulgi stayed at her house for a while. It’s a good thing that he never knew where she lived so she knew he’ll not follow her. She remembered that Joy had told her when she and Minseok are still not a thing yet. The thing about them was Minseok was not her acquaintance, but her ex-blind date, and in addition to that was he begged Joy to have dinner including her. For now, she cut all of her communication with everyone, except for Joy. She wanted to confirm if Minseok was a really good guy or a dangerous one.

Days passed, and she avoided Minseok at all cost. Her phone now is full of his messages and missed calls. She decided to cut him off from her life before something else would happen to her. One day, she tried to call Joy, to talk about her on-going novel, but for an unknown reason, she can’t reach her phone. Seulgi decided to go to her workshop along with her car and looked for her.

“Joy?” 

She desperately called her Joy’s name hoping she would be here.

“Good morning Ms. Kang, are you looking for Ms. Joy?” 

The guard’s voice made her almost jump out of fear. Seulgi smiled a little and asked,

“Yes? Did you know where she went?” 

The guard paused for a second while his eyes tilted up, thinking. He clapped his hand as he remembered.

“No ma’am. She hasn’t been here for two days now. But before that, some good-looking guy went to see her.”

Her eyes trembled when she had a hunch about who it is. She prayed for herself not to meet him again but her fate won’t allow her. She thanked the guard and left the workshop and went to his place.

\-- 

Seulgi arrived at Minseok’s place. She parked her car, two houses away from his house. She stayed in her car for a while, leaning her head to the steering wheel out of her hesitation. Tears ran down from her face but wiped them anyway. _‘I don’t want to harm anybody because of me.’_ She stepped out of her car and walked towards his house.

_‘021094’_

She pressed down the numbers as his password. The door made a beep sound upon opening, and Seulgi entered the house again. Darkness and awful smell greeted her once again. She gathered all of her strength to walk past through from the kitchen to the room where she was before. There’s one thing she realized after coming in front of that room, there were still other rooms across on the other side of his house she hasn’t accessed yet.

After roaming around, she found a stair going downwards at the furthermost opposite side of the house. _‘A basement?_ ’ Her chest felt heavy as she goes down to look at what's inside. A banging sound was heard upon reaching the basement. As she continued to walk, the awful smell became more intense.

She saw Minseok holding something heavy, and a woman, lying down on the floor. Seulgi took a good look as she hid behind a wall, and watched them.

“I TOLD YOU NOT TO BE NOSY WITH HER! And now, she’s avoiding me BECAUSE OF YOU!”

Minseok beat up the woman with a hammer. She then recognized it was Joy as the woman lying down. He didn’t let her gave chance for her to speak. After that, he let out a sharp dagger from his pocket and blatantly stabbed her multiple times.

“DIE! DIE! DIE!”

He let out his anger by repeatedly stabbing her all over the body. Blood splashed to the wall and his face every time he did it. The smell of blood reeked to the room that made him more excited.

“Well, I suppose I can make another portrait for her, out of you.”

Joy was now unconscious from all the stabbing. He reminded himself how he did this whenever someone being nosy or goes on his way. Minseok lets out another thing in his pocket. With a syringe and lots of blood bags, he then started to inject the syringe into Joy’s and collected her blood.

Seulgi’s eyes were almost crying, having to see that brutal killing of her assistant made her stomach roll. She almost puked but she stopped doing it. She searched for her phone in her pocket and started to dial someone. Her hands were trembling out of fear and cold that she mistakenly dropped her phone making a sound. She looked back again just to see the surprised look on Minseok’s face. Afraid of what might happen to her, she ran as fast as she could to get out of the basement. Followed by Minseok.

After successfully leaving the house, she rushed to her car and started the engine. Minseok can be seen leaving the house running towards her. Without further ado, her foot stomped on the accelerator, leaving the place. Hands still trembling, she now remembered the first time she met Minseok. _‘He’s the stalker, Seulgi. He’s the cause of your fear of the crowd! Why didn’t you remember that?’_ She recalled the three paintings she saw from his other room, seeing that she counted how many of her past assistants who had left her. She only realized that Minseok has been killing all of them.

\---

 ** _Portrait_** _, a pictorial representation_ _of a person usually showing the face; it can be digitally taken or by painting._

Seulgi went back to the workshop to get her manuscript from Joy’s office. She had to stop the story from publishing. She’d rather be a nameless writer again than a writer whose stories have a horrible truth.

“Seulgi, where are you?”

Minseok’s voice can be heard outside Joy’s office. She tried to escape but there was no other way out, so she had to hide from Joy’s closet. After that, she saw him entered the room, she felt her chest heavy again, as he approached the nearer, Seulgi could only close her eyes, hoping it’s all just a dream.

“There you are, my beautiful writer.”

\--

Screams are heard all over the room. Seulgi woke up in her bed, struggling to catch her breath. She had another nightmare again. She is back at her place, after she escaped from Minseok three years ago, through leaving the country. Aside from that, she resigned from being a novel writer and since then, no one knew where she went.

She just came back yesterday, when she heard the news about discovering Joy’s dead body. Seulgi felt bad about what happened to Joy, if she hadn’t got scared that day, Joy’s body probably would have been found soonest. The news said that they had also caught the culprit, which made her heart relieved. But ever since that horrible day, Seulgi never had a good sleep without taking sleeping pills running on her body.

She recalled the day when she escaped from Minseok’s, shivers ran through her spine again. Seulgi shakes her body to loosen herself. _‘Everything will be fine now.’_ She told herself.

\--

“Ms. Kang? Hello? Is this Seulgi Kang’s place?”

Seulgi immediately looked at the peephole to see the man asking for her. 

“Who are you?”

She asked while holding a pepper spray on her left hand that she grabbed on her way to the door, and a pen with a blade on it on the other hand.

“Pizza delivery.... ma’am?”

She sighed out of relief when she heard that. She hit herself on the head for forgetting that she made an order earlier. She then opened the door and lets in the delivery guy. The guy looked down as he handed the pizza box. Seulgi realized that she’s wearing her untied nightgown, she then ties it.

“I’m sorry. Can you wait here for a second? I forgot to bring my wallet.” She hit her head again for being clumsy. The guy nodded at her still looking down, he was wearing a cap so she never got to look at his face. She went on her way to get her wallet and came back to the delivery guy as soon as possible.

Upon reaching the door, the delivery guy was nowhere to be found. Seulgi comes out of the door to look for the guy. But there were no signs of him. She shrugged her shoulders as she came back only to be surprised by the delivery guy inside, still looking down.

“I thought you were gone. Here’s the money.”

Seulgi hands over the money as she made her way back inside to her house. The delivery guy slowly tilted his head upwards, finally showing his lower part of his face. With a small stain of blood on his hand and a smile on his lips, she recognized that person again. Her body’s now in shivers as she recalled his face.

“Long time no see my beautiful writer. I’ve been waiting for you.”

**THE END**

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave kudos and comments for our author! <3 You could also leave a like and share with your friends on Twitter! Just look for our festival thread on @exovelvetwrtrs.


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